Patna, Dec 20
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned former Bihar chief minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav for the first time in its money-laundering investigation into the land-for-jobs case, officials said Wednesday. The agency also asked his son, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, to depose at the ED office in New Delhi on December 22.
Lalu, 75, has been asked to appear on December 27 to record his statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), said officials. The ED had questioned Tejashwi, 34, for about eight hours in this case on April 11.
Over this year, the ED has also questioned Tejashwi’s mother, former Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi, and his sisters, RJD Rajya Sabha MP Misa Bharti, Chanda Yadav and Ragini Yadav, in this case. The ED summoned them after questioning an allegedly close associate of the family, Amit Katyal. He was arrested by the ED in November.
The ED case stems from a CBI probe into allegations that people were given employment in the Railways — when Lalu was railway minister — in return for land parcels gifted or sold at cheap rates to his family and associates. According to ED officials, Rabri Devi and one of her daughters, Hema Yadav, separately received two land parcels each from candidates who got Railways jobs. These land parcels were bought at a price of just Rs 7.5 lakh and then allegedly sold to Meridian Constructions India Ltd, a company run by one Abu Dojana, for Rs 3.5 crore.
The CBI filed a chargesheet in the case against Lalu, Rabri — they were questioned by the agency recently — and 14 others under the charge of criminal conspiracy and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
All of them have been summoned on March 15.
